Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Encouraging Words March 11, 2013

Thousands of
candles can be lit from a single candle,
and the life of the candle will not be shortened.
Happiness never decreases by being shared.
- The Buddha

Many years back,
my sister-in-law was pregnant with her third child and I was already raising
three kids all of whom were in grade school at this time. I remember her asking
me “how do you divide your love between three kids?”

Somehow the Holy Spirit intervened because I
am not known for my eloquence in speech, just ask anyone in my family, because
I actually answered, “It doesn’t divide, it multiplies!”

And it’s
true. As the years have gone on I never felt my love was divided between my
husband and my three children. It was always on the grow!And today that love has grown to include a
wonderful son-in-law and even to his two brothers who feel like sons to me too
one of which even asked his mom if he was supposed to call me “mom” too now
since we were all ‘related’ by marriage!I was so touched!

Multiplying your love, in my experience as a mom, has
brought thousands of joys in my life. It has also brought tons of worry,
anxiety, and sorrow too. Like when my freshly married daughter followed her
husband two thousand miles away in his new job.How would I, the mom who had to hold everyone’s hand in at the mall, who
didn’t go to sleep at night until I had looked in and blessed all of my kids
and knew they were safely at home, who uses text messaging as a crutch to check
in on my kids who aren’t living at home any more, deal with a child moving that
far away? And then not only the miles, but the two hour time difference.I was
going to bed when she was getting off work!

Multiply the
love, says the Holy Spirit.

Who knew
multiplying the love would help in mileage too? Not me and if you would have
tried to sell me on that before they moved, there would have been No Sale!I still don’t like it, but since I haven’t
won the lottery and can pay them to stay local, I guess I have to be thankful
they have jobs and are experiencing the closeness and bonding of a married
couple only being so far apart from family can do.

Multiplying the love helps me get through the day after
my son tells me he is planning a trip to go sky diving, or my other daughter
joining a college group to travel to our nation’s capitol to take part in a
conference.Multiplying the love means I
am able to deal with my husband’s blood sugar drops and lows with diabetes and
knowing what to do without panicking.

When this same sister-in-law was pregnant with her
seventh child, she went into premature labor at 19 weeks. She was put on bed
rest, then a hospital stay, but my tiny niece was born at 21 weeks, with a very
slight chance of surviving.

There in the
hospital, inside an incubator, with tubes and lines going all over her tiny
little body which at the time didn’t even have skin growing on it yet, I
wondered how in the world my brother and his wife could cope with this when
they had to leave her at the hospital and go home to their other six children
who needed them too. Once again, the
Holy Spirit shut me up and instead of my words, the Spirit’s words opened my
mouth to reassure them, “Her guardian angels will be here the whole time with her, I know
they are here with her.”Multiplying love.
It works miracles and somehow they were able to go home, get rest and reassure
their children everything was in the Lord’s hands.

I take no credit for knowing anything about Multiplying
Love. It’s a phenomenon of the Holy Spirit. Truly. I only know that it is
incredibly hard to do, make no mistake, it takes prayer, tons and tons of
prayer. But you know where Multiplying Love comes from? Trust.

Trust: That word
weighs like a ton.It settles on your
shoulders and your heart.And the ONLY
one you can trust with all the weight and the worries, anxieties, fears and
sorrows is God.It’s a constant work in
progress, it is an action; trust. I wake up every day having to recommit to it.
It does not come easily some days. Trusting in God and letting go of myself is
like having to do exercise! But the more you do it, the better you get at it. I
didn’t say it becomes easier, because it does not. But you can manage it and get
better at trusting and love. Trust is
what fuels Multiplying Love. Multiplying
Love comes directly from God. He is so very good at love and it’s nothing for
Him to love the billions of people in this world all the same at the same time.

So TRUST =
MULTIPLYING LOVE

Your candle will not diminish, only grow all
the brighter as you light the candle of others!

Resume:

Married to an awesome husband for 34 years, veteran mom of three wonderful kids and their spouses. Experienced white water rafter, zip-liner, and have done barrel rolls, hammer heads and spins in a biplane.Try to go to Mass every morning, pray the Rosary every day, work in church office trying to help explain the faith by using print, social media and videos! LOVE TEACHING TEENS ABOUT GOD'S LOVE FOR THEM!No matter HOW old you are you can live adventures and enjoy the life God gave you to live!

Adding to the list of adventures:published my own books,write for international karate magazinefought a Golden Gloves boxer and didn't diefell underneath a raft and got stuck there while white water rafting the Arkansas River and didn't dieStill box and spar with 20 year oldsPodcast as: "That Lady From Church"videographer, podcaster, blogger.

My motto: No Excuses! Get out and Live Life!

Deliver Us, Lord

Deliver us, Lord, from every evil and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ!